A tax cut for craft brewers? They'll drink to that

The nation's craft brewers have a loyal and growing customer base, and they hope to leverage that into something quite helpful: a tax cut from Congress.

The New York Timesreports that the brewers visited Washington, D.C., this week for their industry's first big conference in the nation's capital.

“They were there to engage in a local pastime that goes pint in hand with drinking: lobbying,” The Times notes. “As part of the conference, hundreds of small-scale brewers met with Congressional staff members to press for a tax cut that they say would make it easier for them to brew more beer and hire more workers.”

The newspaper explains the tax situation for the craft beer industry this way:

Commercial beer makers pay a federal tax on every barrel of beer they produce. It is a progressive tax: small breweries, producing fewer than two million barrels a year, pay $7 on their first 60,000 barrels. For every 31-gallon barrel above 60,000, they pay $18. Only about 100 craft breweries in the United States produce more than 15,000 barrels a year. About 95% of craft breweries and brew pubs produce less than that. Bigger brewers, like Anheuser-Busch InBev, which produced 98.5 million barrels in 2011, pay $18 for every barrel.

The Small BREW Act would reduce the tax on the first 60,000 barrels to $3.50. For every barrel beyond 60,000 but before 2 million, the tax would be $16. After two million, breweries would pay the full $18 tax.

Patrick Conway, co-owner of Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland, tells the newspaper, “We are the victims of our own success.”

The Times reports that Mr. Conway “brought a delegation of 12 employees to Washington to network and publicize his brews with tap takeovers at local bars.”

He adds, “We're always being courted by distributors. It's not our intention to sell in every state, but we are flattered.”

This and that

Looking up: In a reversal of recent trends, the United Auto Workers union says its membership rose slightly last year as the U.S. manufacturing sector continued its recovery, according to this Associated Press story.

The UAW reports it had 382,513 members in 2012, up nearly 1,800 workers — still less than 1% — from 2011.

The union “said it gained members at auto parts plants in Alabama and Kentucky and a bus factory in Oklahoma. More than 1,000 workers at a casino in Cleveland also joined the union last year,” according to the AP.

Guess he's not a fan:The Wall Street Journalreports that legislatures in half the states, including Ohio, that require electric utilities to buy renewable energy are considering proposals to roll back those mandates.

“The policies have helped fuel a huge expansion of U.S. solar and wind capacity in recent years,” according to the newspaper. “Now debates are arising, especially in Republican-held statehouses, about whether they increase costs for customers.”

The Journal says there is “no federal rule requiring utilities to purchase renewable energy, but mandates require it in 29 states.” This year, the newspaper reports, “legislators in at least 14 of those states have introduced bills that would water down or repeal renewable-energy mandates,” according to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency at North Carolina State University. (None has been signed into law so far.)

Ohio state Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican who is leading a review of the state's renewable-energy mandate, goes big in talking with The Journal and says the policy reminds him of "Joseph Stalin's five-year plan." He noted his main interest is "in what delivers the lowest price for electricity in our state. That is what we are trying to figure out."

You're saying there's a chance: March Madness seems to have obscured the impending start of the Major League Baseball season, so it's only appropriate that this look at the 2013 season sizes up teams in NCAA Tournament terms.

In other words, the Cubs and Mets are 16 seeds, the powerhouse Detroit Tigers are a No. 1 seed, etc.

“These teams seem just bad enough to be largely overlooked but just good enough for you to think one of them could be this year's version of the 2012 A's or Orioles,” The Wall Street Journal says. “The Indians' starting rotation is thoroughly unimpressive, but an off-season highlighted by the signings of Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn has created some hope.”